NST Online: Sports
NST Online: Sports |
| Football: Cardiff get first bite at Safee Posted: 07 Sep 2011 05:21 PM PDT 2011/09/08 Safee Sali has two weeks to impress Cardiff. Safee will attend the trial with English Championship side Cardiff for two weeks until Sept 27 after having secured the approval of his current club, Indonesian Super League side Pelita Jaya. "Every Malaysian football fan follows the English game and I'm no different. Even as a kid, I've always dreamt of one day plying my trade in the English league and now I have a chance to do that with this trial.
Cardiff chairman Datuk Chan Teck Ghee confirmed Safee's impending arrival in the Welsh city where he said the striker is in for the time of his life. "I can confirm that he leaves on Sept 12 till 27 for a full trial," Teck Ghee told Timesport yesterday. "It's a trial with the first team so he's going to have one hell of an experience. He'll know what level he is at and he's really looking forward to it.
Asked how the arrangement for a trial came about, Teck Ghee added: "With hard work and perseverance. We asked the right people and we've done everything above board. "His current club Pelita have also agreed to this trial and they are happy to let him go. It would be a great for them as well, I'm sure."
His stock began to rise when he scored five goals for Malaysia from the semi-finals onwards in the national team's successful AFF Cup campaign last December. Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, chairman of English Premier League club QPR, last month spoke of giving Safee a trial but it appears that Cardiff have got a move on from the London-based club. Last month, Teck Ghee also offered Safiq Rahim a trial with Cardiff, which the national skipper will undergo after Selangor's interest in the on-going Malaysia Cup ends. QPR manager Neil Warnock rates Safee highly and described the 27-year-old forward as the "David Beckham of Malaysia." "There's going to be opportunities now with the chairman's contact in Malaysia. It's a very emerging country football-wise, Safee Sali is the David Beckham of Malaysia. "I think everyone knows him and there is a problem at the moment with regards to the work permit in bringing players in from Malaysia. But that will not stop us from bringing players over," said Warnock in an online conference with Malaysian media yesterday. If successful, Safee will have done what several previous Malaysian players tried and failed before him including Baddrol Bakhtiar and Bunyamin Umar (Chelsea) and Syed Adney Syed Hussain (Middlesbrough and Darlington). |
| Golf / Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia: Aretha, Ainil join the elite Posted: 07 Sep 2011 05:19 PM PDT (From left) Thailand's Tanaporn Kongkiatkrai and Porani Chutichai with Malaysia's Aretha Pan and Ainil Johani yesterday. — Picture by Osman Adnan The 21-year-old Ainil Johani, who turned professional last year, said she was looking forward to making her appearance at the LPGA Tour sanctioned competition. "I didn't play well today (yesterday) but I'm glad that I will join world-class players at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia," said Ainil Johani.
Aretha, who qualified for the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia for the second time, hoped that she could shrug off her nervousness when she takes on the world's best women golfers. "Last year, I really couldn't focus on my game. I was mesmerised by the professional players in action. But this year, I want to focus on my own game," said Aretha.
Both of the Thai players topped the regional qualifying leaderboard which was held concurrently with the national qualifying session. -- Bernama |
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